Although recognized by most countries as an independent nation, Taiwan remains at the center of political tension with mainland China, stemming from the Chinese Civil War. After suffering defeat to Mao Zedong and the China Communist Party, General Chiang Kai-shek and about 2 million of his Nationalist followers fled to Taiwan in 1949, moving the ROC capital from Nanjing (mainland) to Taipei. The ROC still formally holds claim over all of the mainland, although these claims are largely downplayed these days and are not pursued. China (PRC) on the other hand, maintains that Taiwan is one of it's provinces, even though Taiwan operates as a sovereign state without any mainland interference. Although no official end was negotiated to the Chinese Civil War, an unofficial truce pervades the relationship today, even if it is uneasy at times. In practice, the two governments have a healthy business trade, and relations are begining to show signs of improvement. The issue of reunification vs. independence remains one of the most important and highly charged political issues in Taiwanese politics. Okay - history lesson over.
Having already formed first-hand impressions of Hong Kong, Beijing, and industrial Southern China, I was curious to see how Taipei would compare, and where it would fall on the three pronged scale of modernity, historic value, and sophistication. It's political history has allowed it to "grow up" over the past 50 years without the restrictions imposed by the PRC's central government.
Right off the bat, I could tell that I was not on the mainland. A quick look at oncoming traffic, and a couple of things were obvious:
1. Although there are plenty of scooters on the road in China, there were even more in Taipei. But here everyone was wearing helmets.
2. People generally obeyed the traffic laws, stopping at red lights and staying in their lanes - meaning my underpants stayed squeaky clean on the drive to the hotel.
A swarm of scooters crosses a busy Taipei intersection.
Sidewalks everywhere were packed with neatly arranged rows of parked scooters, tightly packed together like sardines. I also noticed that the city was pretty clean, with construction debris kept to a minimum - also a key giveaway that I was not in China proper. The street signage reminded me of Hong Kong, but with noticeably less English.
In Taipei, much like Hong Kong, copius use of banner-like street signs dominates the cityscape. But playing detective to find English on them lets us know that we are somewhere else.
At night, the lights turn on and illuminate Taipei's streets.
It seems funny to say this, but in some ways Taipei seems more, well, more Chinese than other big cities I've been to on the mainland. Many temples and historical buildings are scattered throughout the city, interspersed periodically among the ordinary shops and office buildings. Such places seem to be a rarity in the places I frequent in southern China.
This temple was a block from my hotel. It seemed like there were temples like this all over Taipei.
This one looked particularly interesting, but I ended up with only this crappy shot that I took while driving by in a van. Not the way to get a decent photo, but this will have to do.
I noticed that there seem to be a large number of small food stalls, selling everything from... well, selling everything. Fried dough thingys for breakfast, stinky tofu (yup, stinky=rotted), exotic fruits, animal nasty bits... This really deserves its own post.
Not sure what this guy's selling, but it doesn't look too bad. Taipei has more than its share of street food.
Another small cart, this one with various kinds of fruit. And sticks. I'd tell you more if I could - it stinks to be illiterate.
A typical Taipei side street.
It's pretty easy to get around in Taipei. The subway has good coverage, and the system is not that difficult for a foreigner like me to figure out (ahem, are you listening, Kyoto?). It's also fairly new and clean, both superior to my hometown T. And who could forget that Taipei is home to (at least for now, anyways) the world's tallest building, Taipei 101? But I'll save that story for another post.
So this is the end of the post, where I'm supposed to make some sort of judgement or smart sounding summary. Something like, oh, I don't know... Let's try this.
As I was expecting, Taipei wasn't exactly like any of the cities I have visited before. It's kind of like a less westernized Hong Kong, only if it weren't ruled by the British, but by the Chinese all those years. Only, not those Chinese, but a different group of Chinese. Not to mention the influences of other nations who have visited/invaded the island at some point during its history (Portugal, Netherlands, Japan, China, etc.).
Got it?
Look, Taiwan is a beautiful place, with good food, modern accomodations, interesting attractions (hot springs, for one), oh, and stunning mountains and beaches too. Let me know what you think if you get the chance to visit some day.
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